Attorney General Jeff Sessions came out swinging in a dramatic appearance before a Senate committee Tuesday, branding any claims that he had helped or was aware of any collusion with Russian officials to interfere in the 2016 election as an “appalling and detestable lie.”

Sessions said in his opening statement that he did not recall a third meeting with Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak in the Mayflower hotel in Washington, despite reports that the FBI had been investigating whether such a contact took place.

“I did not have any private meetings nor recall any private conversations with any Russian official at the Mayflower hotel,” Sessions told the Senate intelligence committee.

Sessions is appearing before the committee for the first time since recusing himself from the Russia investigation, but will face questions from Democrats about why he still played a role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, which Trump later said was motivated by the probe into Moscow’s meddling the last year’s election.

We’ll have more on Sessions tomorrow after his time wraps with the committee.

Nate Ashworth is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for almost a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016.